A Glimpse of Every Class

"Hey, Nagami, isn't this a little too dangerous?"

Mori Nene looked at Nagami, who was rubbing his hands together, and voiced her concern.

"I'm going up!"

After picking a tree of a suitable height, Nagami called out. Before the words had even left his mouth, he jumped up and grabbed the rough trunk, gripping the first branch that jutted out.

His back and arms tensed, and he hauled his entire weight onto the branch with both hands, performing a simple one-arm pull-up.

He braced his legs against the trunk and climbed. His movements weren't exactly nimble, but there was a certain beauty to his brute strength.

The bark was rough and faintly damp. The calluses on his hands protected his tender skin, and he paid it no mind.

As he climbed, his fingertips brushed against moss clinging to the trunk. The slick sensation made him wrinkle his nose.

His sneakers pressed against the trunk again and again, sending bits of dirt and dead leaves fluttering down.

Halfway up, he stopped to study the route ahead.

"Be careful!"

Mori Nene stood helplessly below. All she could do was remind Nagami to watch his step.

The wind swept through the treetop, rustling the leaves as if to remind him how high up he was.

The view opened up above, revealing a range of rolling mountains in the distance.

He took a deep breath, a satisfied smile spreading across his face, and shouted, "The view from up here is the best!"

He looked back the way they had come. The lively campfire in the direction of Class D had shrunk to a tiny dot.

Far away, four wisps of smoke rose from campfires.

"Splitting up, huh? Interesting!"

Comparing the map in his head with the view before him, Nagami calculated their approximate coordinates.

Nagami and Mori Nene had been making their way east across the island.

"The camps along this route are really well hidden. Good thing I climbed up high and got a good view."

Nagami dutifully clocked in his Trust Card: 10,000 Trust Points for eight hours.

"Sugoi, Nagami-kun."

Mori Nene wondered if Nagami was hinting that she was short.

After an hour of walking with occasional stops, they finally reached the vicinity of the first camp they planned to visit.

"We're in luck. The first camp is Class B's."

Nagami said as he spotted a familiar face.

"Oh, isn't that Nagami-kun?"

They hadn't been there long before Class B welcomed them in.

"Honami, I even climbed a tree specially to find you guys."

"Couldn't you have just asked on Line? Is Kagami's phone broken or something?"

Ichinose looked puzzled by Nagami's tree-climbing antics.

A few black lines appeared on Nagami's forehead. He'd momentarily forgotten that electronic devices weren't allowed on this camping trip.

"Oh, right. You'd have to climb a tree to locate the other classes. Not everyone would be willing to tell me where their class was camping."

"Oh, I see! I knew Kagami wouldn't be that dumb. Hahaha."

Nagami congratulated himself on his cleverness, then looked around Class B's camp.

"Honami, I suggest you have someone stand guard by the stream. You know how those little people in Class C like to pull dirty tricks. It'd be bad if they slipped a laxative into your water."

"That makes sense. Thanks, Kagami."

"Oh, Honami, your class gets along so well. You've arranged the tents in a circle. What a brilliant idea."

"It was my idea. It blocks the wind and lets us absorb as much heat from the campfire as possible."

Kanzaki suddenly appeared, then looked at the girl behind Nagami.

"Oh, I forgot to introduce you. This is Mori Nene from Class D."

"Nene, this honest-looking guy is Honami's sidekick, Kanzaki Ryuji."

"Kon'nichiwa, Mori Nene." "Kon'nichiwa, Kanzaki."

After they exchanged greetings, Kanzaki retorted, "Don't look down on me, Nagami. Under Ichinose-san's leadership, everyone in Class B is equal."

"I'm so jealous of the atmosphere in Class B."

Mori Nene said.

"Unlike Kagami, who's always switching out his pretty girl sidekicks. No wonder he's a student who works part-time at a host club."

Ichinose peered at Nagami from the corners of her half-lidded eyes, looking somewhat displeased.

"I'll say it again: that's definitely a rumor spread by people jealous of me! I've never worked as a host."

Nagami declared righteously.

"Sorry, Nene. I was only joking. You don't mind, do you?"

Ichinose took Nene's hands and looked at her sincerely.

"I don't mind."

Mori Nene answered softly.

"Enough playing house. I have something serious to discuss. Let's find somewhere private."

Nagami gave Ichinose a meaningful look, and she understood at once.

The two of them walked to a spot with a wide-open view, far enough away that even if someone tried to eavesdrop, they wouldn't be able to make out what was said.

"Kagami, did you find another loophole in the rules? Like making fake cards or something?"

"No. This time it's different from the Uninhabited Island. That exam focused on competition between classes, so they introduced the Leader Card."

"But with these Trust Cards, everyone has almost the same permissions. Making fake cards would be pointless. That means the school is testing how united each class is."

"How united we are? I don't think Class B has anyone who'd sneak off on their own. They're all good kids."

"If I'm not mistaken, you, Honami, Shiranami, and Kanzaki have formed a love triangle, right?"

"Uh, put like that, it sounds like a love triangle from a TV drama. You guessed right again, Kagami."

Nagami analyzed the situation:

This Special Exam was an opportunity for talented students who could have made it to Class A but had been held back by their class.

It was also a chance for the underachievers to shake things up. After several Special Exams over the past term, Classes C and D were no longer as full of ambition as they'd been when they first enrolled.

Once they recognized the gap in ability, they'd start slacking off during Special Exams based on interclass competition. Class A would only have to focus on Class B to stay comfortably ahead. The school didn't want to see that happen.

So they'd designed this Trust Game Special Exam to stir up the stagnant waters. Everyone could compete seriously for campsites and earn four million Trust Points, which could be exchanged for a Class Transfer Ticket. It was undoubtedly a glimmer of hope for the classes at the bottom.

Class A seemed unaffected. They could just sit back and still earn a huge number of points. For them, the Class Transfer Ticket was the most useless thing imaginable.

But was it really that simple?

Nagami smiled faintly, the corner of his mouth unconsciously pulling to the right, like some kind of war god.

"Wow, and then? What happens next? Kagami, why'd you stop at the most important part?"

Ichinose had been listening intently when Nagami left her hanging.

"Hmph. There's only one truth."

"And that is..."

"What is it?"

"It's..."

Ichinose's hands trembled with excitement, her eyes full of anticipation. She looked like an old man who sat in front of the TV every day waiting for the lottery numbers to be announced.

"You can transfer someone from Class A into Class D."

"Nani?!"

Ichinose raised her voice by eight whole octaves, startling the birds nearby into flight.

After thinking it over, she suddenly realized how terrifying the Class Transfer Ticket could be.

If the ticket didn't require the person's consent, or restrict who could use it, then transferring Sakayanagi from Class A into Class D would completely throw Class A into chaos.

So sinister. So despicable. So unexpected.

Only someone born evil could have come up with this, someone like U...

As a shining beacon of justice, Ichinose would never have thought of this method.

"I'm calling Hoshinomiya-sensei!"

"Hi, Sensei, it's me, Honami. I have a question..."

Nagami wore an expression that was thirty percent aloof, thirty percent mocking, and forty percent nonchalant, as if he'd known the answer all along.

Ichinose began to feel glad that Nagami had been born in peaceful times.